The spirit of hope still lives (Cambodian Catholic in 1974)

Last Updated on 02 January 2013

By DC-CAM

  

Innocent joy before the horror: beaming nuns watch a little girl perform an Apsara dance in December, 1974. Photograph: DC-CAM

In front of an audience of nuns and other young children, a little angel struggles to curl her tiny fingers to signify a fruit. It is late December of 1974 and, unknown to everyone in the room, the child is performing one of the last Apsara dances before the Khmer Rouge came to power.

The photograph may seem like only a snapshot in time, but behind the smiling faces and intense stare of a young Apsara pupil lies a story that touches upon a theme that all of us should consider around this holiday season.

In the 1970s, well-intentioned Cambodian parents did anything they could to send their young children overseas in hopes of a better life. But, in the end, they unknowingly assigned them to a life that none of them could have predicted.

These children were mostly from elite families, even though the program was meant for the rural poor, and they were some of the last children to leave Phnom Penh before its fall in 1975.

They were loved and cared for by Western families, and were given opportunities, freedoms and luxuries many children today could only dream of.

But they also grew up feeling different, and their life seemed artificial; they didn’t seem to fit as their parents had imagined.

They were too young to remember their Cambodian roots, yet they didn’t feel right in their new home.
Rather than fulfilling their parents’ wishes by prospering and changing the world, they were haunted by the burning desire to find the world they had left behind.

Many years later, some of them returned to Cambodia, only to find their parents had been killed and their identities were lost.

Even today, there are children who don’t even know if their parents are still alive.
The good intentions of parents to give their young children the chance of a better life are often fraught with uncertainty and risk.

Indeed, nearly 42 years later, in a small town in Connecticut, in the US, parents sent their first-graders off to school, unaware that their good-morning hug and daily goodbye would be the last opportunity to see them alive.

This message comes not as a sober note to think of the world’s dangers; nor should one lose faith in mankind’s nature.

We should look instead to the hearts of young children.

Without worry or sadness, a child’s outlook on the world reminds us that although our planet is still coloured by evil and danger, there is still a hope that mankind can be better.

In 2013, the Documentation Center of Cambodia wants to remind everyone to reflect on the innocent wonder behind these young eyes. Indeed, in the eyes of our children, hope is far from  dead.
As we bid farewell to one year and wonder about the unpredictable future, be mindful that the spirit of hope continues to live.
 

China to invest $9.6b in Cambodia

Last Updated on 01 January 2013

By May Kunmakara

 

The Cambodia Iron & Steel Mining Industry Group (CISMIG) and the China Railway Group Limited agreed yesterday to build a new railway line with 11 stations as well as an iron and steel factory in Preah Vihear province.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Groups is worth US$9.6 billion.

“We will start our project in July next year and it will take about four years,” Zhang Chuan Li, Chairman of CISMIG, told the Post yesterday. He added that Chinese and Cambodian experts analyzed the project’s feasibility and its environmental impact in October 2010.

According to the company statements the railway will be 405 kilometres long, from the mining area of Preah Vihear province through the southern provinces of Kampong Thom, Kampong Chnang, Kampong Speu and finally Koh Kong province. It will not connect to the existing lines of Toll Royal Railways.

Zhang Chuan Li told reporters at the signing ceremony that the $9.6 billion investment will be used to build the new railway line, a new port and a new bridge in Koh Kong. The planned iron and steel plant in Preah Vihear will cost $1.6 billion.  

However, he said that the company received 1,300 square kilometres of land concessions from the government and 10 square kilometres would be necessary for the factory in Preah Vihear. The companies did not disclose the exact route of the new line.

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, claimed that the government should follow the international bidding process for the approval  of any foreign investment in all industry sectors.

“I don’t want to see companies grab people’s property and destroy natural ressources,” he said. “It will allow corruption, if government and company agree on such projects without a public bidding process.”

Referring to the factory, Zhang Chuan Li explained: “With the factory we  want  to  minimise  the country’s import of steel. We also plan to export to neighbouring countries like Vietnam and Thailand.”
The construction of the factory, which will produce 1 million tonnes of steel and iron per year, will take two and a half years, according to the CISMIG chairman.

The company will not import raw material for the production, but use national mines in Preah Vihear, Rattanakkiri, Kampong Thom and Stung Treng provinces.

Minister of Transportation Tram Iv Tek, who participated in the signing ceremony yesterday morning in Phnom Penh, said the investment will contribute to the development of the Cambodian economy.
“If the investment is successful, it will definitely help the development of Cambodia’s economy. It will not only allow the transportation of resources, but also of agricultural and industrial products as well as passengers,” he said.

Youn Heng, director of the Evaluation and Incentive Department of the Council for Development of Cambodia, confirmed that the CISMIG’s plans were approved by the government in 2010.

Chinese investments in Cambodia, mostly in the garment, textile, agriculture and mining industry. They totalled $9.1 billion between 1994 until the end of July 2012.

On Friday the stretch of railway line from Phnom Penh to Preah Sihanouk province started temporary operations.

The first operations on the southern railway will boost trade activities in the region and attract trade transportation activities, officials said.
 

Opposition Lawmakers Want Court Chief to Answer Questions

By Kuch Naren and Simon Lewis - January 2, 2013

Opposition politicians have called for the chief judge at the Supreme Court to appear before the National Assembly to answer questions about a slew of recent controversial court decisions.

SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said that he submitted a letter on Friday addressed to Dith Munthy, who also sits on the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, to the office of National Assembly President Heng Samrin.
“Having noticed that from 1993 to the present day, the Cambodian courts are yet to be independent and unbiased in fulfilling its duty as stated in the Constitution,” the letter says.

“The lack of these things causes critical abuse of basic human rights and the majority of Cambodians have suffered all forms of injustice that are worsening, leaving no hope for them to gain protection and justice from judicial institutions.”

The letter goes on to state that people linked to the ruling party, the powerful and the rich have been accused of influencing the courts, and demands that Judge Munthy appear in the National Assembly on Thursday to respond.

An appearance by the court’s chief judge, it says, would allow the public to hear an explanation following major cases where the independence of the courts has been called into question.

It cites the dropping of charges against former Bavet City governor Chhouk Bundith, the initial suspect in the shooting of three female garment workers in February, the jailing of independent radio station owner Mam Sonando on secessionist charges, the detention of activists from the Boeng Kak and Borei Keila communities, and convictions against opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

Under Article 89 of the Constitution, the National Assembly must invite a high-ranking official to clarify such issues if there has been a request made by at least a tenth of the assembly’s sitting members.
The letter carries the signatures of 17 members of the SRP and the Human Rights Party.
Koam Kosal, chief of Mr. Samrin’s cabinet, said such letters are routinely forwarded with the endorsement of the president’s office.

“But this letter, I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe it was sent to our office,” he said.
Mr. Chhay said that last week he also submitted letters to Prime Minister Hun Sen, through the National Assembly, asking for Interior Minister Sar Kheng and Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem to appear before the assembly.

In the letter to Mr. Sem, Mr. Chhay requests that the minister appear to explain how licenses for mining and hydropower projects are awarded. The letter to Mr. Kheng asks the interior minister to explain extortionate fees for passports and corruption within the ranks of the traffic police

Mr. Chhay said he had submitted many such requests to officials in the past, but only “1 or 2 percent show up.”

However, he pointed out that Mr. Hun Sen last month rejected criticism from U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi on the grounds that, under the Constitution, the prime minister is only accountable to the National Assembly.

“I will test that out,” Mr. Chhay said.

Hun Sen Is Doing Some Things Right

By Bernard Krisher - January 2, 2013

I recently visited Phnom Penh from my home in Tokyo and found that things are getting better and better in Cambodia.


Cambodia is basically an agricultural country, and in the past produced very few industrial products, but now I notice that Cambodia produces even silverware, motorcycles and also chocolate, and there is substantial foreign investment here.

It may seem strange that I would like to credit Prime Minister Hun Sen for creating the climate that has developed Cambodia to be a developing country and that there is a middle class here now, which earns reasonable wages and can afford to purchase substantial consumer products.

Hun Sen is a strongman much like Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore, who developed Singapore as a state of the art country with his personal style of being strict with the population.
I therefore feel, despite Hun Sen’s autocratic style, that he has done much to develop Cambodia to follow in Singapore’s steps.

Ministry of Interior Requested to Further Investigate SEZ Shooting

By Khuon Narim - January 2, 2013

The Ministry of Justice has instructed the Ministry of Interior to investigate a Bavet City police officer’s alleged involvement in a shooting that left three women seriously injured during a violent protest outside a factory last year.


Pen Vibol, deputy chief of the National Police’s personnel department, said the Ministry of Interior will write a report on Bavet City penal section chief Sar Chantha’s alleged involvement in a February 20 shooting, and it will be sent to the Ministry of Justice.

Mr. Vibol questioned Mr. Chantha on Monday over his alleged role.

“The Ministry of Justice sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior to investigate on Sar Chantha,” Mr. Vibol said. “We just called Sar Chantha to make a report on the involvement since the [Svay Rieng provincial] court had charged him with causing unintentional injuries and we will send this back to the Ministry of Justice.”

Mr. Vibol said that it was “normal” for the ministry to investigate when its officers have been charged with a crime, but declined to comment on why the Justice Ministry had stepped in.
“It is normal that when the official under an institution have been charged by the court, they would need to notify those in the institution to know about the case,” he said.

Justice Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Chantha was charged with causing unintentional injuries in August for his alleged role in a triple shooting at a Bavet City special economic zone on February 20, directly contradicting eyewitnesses who reported seeing then-Bavet City governor Chhouk Bundith open fire into a crowd of protesters.

Mr. Bundith’s involvement was later confirmed by an investigation carried out by the Ministry of Interior.

However, the Svay Rieng Provincial Court dropped all charges against Mr. Bundith in early December, despite Interior Minister Sar Kheng publicly announcing in March that Mr. Bundith was the sole suspect in the shooting.

Mr. Chantha said yesterday that he had filed an appeal last week against his charges.
“I appealed against this after I received the verdict about four or five days ago because I am not involved with what they charged me with,” Mr. Chantha said.

Cambodia: A matter of life and death

Last Updated on 24 December 2012

By Tong Soprach

 

Last month, a sand truck swerved to avoid a car and crashed into wedding tent erected beside National Road 1. More than 20 wedding participants were seriously injured. Who should be held responsible? The wedding party? A court has yet to address this issue.

In the past, people always complained that traffic accidents were caused by bad roads. Now the roads are better, but the accident rate is still climbing.

This year, road accidents in Cambodia have caused nearly 2,000 deaths and more than 4,000 serious injuries.

Fatalities in road crashes outnumber deaths from HIV and AIDS.
The number of deaths in traffic accidents is also 10 times higher than those caused by land mines and unexploded ordnance.

Fighting on the border of Thailand left 10 Cambodian soldiers dead, causing serious concern and sparking a strong reaction by the Royal Government. Yet the carnage on our roads seems to be accepted as inevitable.

Handicap International calculates that in 2011, traffic accidents cost the nation $310 million. This year, the figure will be higher.

If a road-accident victim dies or becomes permanently handicapped, the loss is even greater when the impact on their livelihood, and that of their family, is taken into account.
This leads to increased poverty, which in turn imposes a bigger burden on the government.
Another factor is the loss of our human resources.

The increased risk of road accidents affects the number of people that could potentially become our leaders of tomorrow.

Last May, Kratie provincial governor Kham Poeun died in a traffic accident. He had worked hard to reach that position, only to be killed in a crash.

During the Khmer Rouge regime, innocent Cambodian families were slaughtered. Today, why do innocent families continue to lose their lives in traffic accidents that can be prevented?
The consequences of this, the human and financial costs, are obvious, so why do so few drivers care about them?

Air passengers automatically buckle their seat belts without needing to be reminded. They take their lives seriously and secure themselves from departure until landing.

Aircraft accidents are very rare, with a one-in-eight-million chance of crashing. Yet air travellers are much more careful than when they travel in cars or buses, which have a much higher accident rate.
Many bus drivers seem not care about their passengers’ lives or the lives of those around them in other vehicles. When a bus crash occurs, the driver often flees the scene, leaving the bus company to deal with the aftermath.

Some truck drivers look too young, and I often see them consuming alcohol while they wait for passengers or goods to be loaded on their vehicles.

Do we know whether they are good drivers or whether they even have official driver’s licences?
Truck drivers often seem to drive very aggressively and carelessly, despite having many passengers aboard. Many trucks are also old and in poor condition, which also must affect the safety of passengers.

Crashes involving local and foreign tourist buses cost insurance companies a lot of money, leading to some insurers refusing to cover bus companies because of their poor driving record.
Traffic problems also have an impact on tourism and investment. As publicity about deaths and serious injuries increases, more and more foreign tourists and businesspeople will shy away from taking to the road in Cambodia.

Preventable deaths on Cambodia’s roads are becoming more and more like hidden murders.
Last year, the relevant ministries agreed to increase fivefold the fine for motorbike riders and passengers who don’t wear helmets. But the draft amendment has not yet been approved by the Council of Ministers. Why is it taking so long?

The government should also increase fivefold the jail sentence for drivers who are found to have caused injury and death to others on the road through carelessness and negligence. This sentence should be in addition to compensation for the accident damage.

Police cite speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol as the main causes of road accidents, but there are a few other contributing factors.

Many vendors sell goods or food on the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to walk on the street.
Similarly, many drivers park on the sidewalk or on the street, sometimes four cars deep. This causes accidents when pedestrians have to walk in the street and when drivers are forced to drive in the opposite lane because there’s no more space on the road.

Many houses are built right up to the street, leaving no sidewalk, and people are taking up half the street for events such as weddings, birthday parties or traditional ceremonies. No article of the traffic law allows them to do this.

The Royal Government must prioritise the issue of road safety. It should begin by analysing the root of the problem and setting up camera systems on streets and national roads to catch people who break the law.

The state should buy modern patrol cars so the police can arrest speeding or drunk drivers rather than paying a vast amount for more than 200 military tanks.

Otherwise, the health ministry’s aim of reducing the proportion of deaths caused by road  accidents to 2.8 per cent by 2015 will be in vain.

 

Bank Accounts Rare in Cambodia, Even for Rich

By Simon Lewis - December 27, 2012

Despite an expanding financial sector, increasing access to credit and strong economic growth in recent years, fewer than 1 in 20 Cambodians has a bank account, according to a new policy working paper by the World Bank.


According to the paper—released earlier this month and based on questions added in 2011 to the Gallup World Poll, which surveyed at least 1,000 people in each of 148 countries—the low number of people covered by the banking sector is a barrier to Cambodia’s economic progress.

“Without financial inclusion, individuals and firms need to rely on their own resources to meet their financial needs, such as saving for retirement, investing in their education, taking advantage of business opportunities, and confronting systemic or idiosyncratic shocks,” the World Bank paper says, adding that those with bank accounts are more likely to save money and be prepared for harder times.

Highlighting how underdeveloped the banking sector still is in Cambodia, the paper says that just 19 percent of Cambodian adults surveyed had received a loan from a financial institution in the past year. But far more, 39 percent, had taken a loan from family or friends.

Only 4 percent of people nationwide have a bank account in which they can deposit money—a figure that is halved when only the poorest 40 percent are looked at. And even among the richest 20 percent of Cambodians, only 12 percent have a bank account, the report says.

Those figures put Cambodia well below its peers in the number of people with a bank account—a key measure of financial inclusion according to the report. Cambodia is among only a few countries—including the Central African Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Yemen—where more than 95 percent of adults are without bank accounts.

The report says rates of financial inclusion depend largely on banking costs, how close people live to a bank and the kind of documentation required to open a bank account.

“Policies targeted to promote inclusion—such as government requirements to offer basic or low-fee accounts, exempting small or rural depositors from onerous documentation requirements, and the use of bank accounts for government payments—are especially effective among rural residents and the poor,” the paper says.

The low banking rate cannot just be explained by Cambodia’s large rural population, said Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association.

“Even in Phnom Penh, many people do not bank and it’s fewer in the provincial towns,” he said. “Because of the upheaval in history, people did not use banks for many years. It’s been changing but it is slow to catch up.”

Still, Mr. Sophal said the low bank coverage in the country did not mean people in the country were not spending or investing.

When the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, the regime abolished money and banks in Cambodia, blowing up the National Bank of Cambodia. Many in the country still remember when the riel was reintroduced in 1980.

“That means they don’t feel secure enough about the social-political situation…. Maybe instead of putting the money in the bank, they use the money to buy property or land,” said independent political analyst Chea Vannath, noting that many believe they can make more money from speculating on land rather than putting it in bank accounts.

“There is a cultural barrier—Cambodian people have not used bank accounts in their lives,” said Bun Mony, chair of the Cambodian Microfinance Association and chief executive at Sethapana Limited microfinance bank.

He said the seven leading microfinance institutions had expanded into all provinces and were now offering deposit accounts, which would make more people aware of the benefits of banking.

“The number of customers using the microfinance banking service accounts is increasing every day, so people will begin to understand why it is helpful,” Mr. Mony said.

© 2012, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

Four years on, Chea Vichea accused back in prison

Last Updated on 27 December 2012

By Abby Seiff and Kim Sarom

 

 

 

Sok Sam Oeun (C) cries at the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Photograph: Sreng Meng Srun/Phnom Penh Post

 

 In a startling about-face, the Court of Appeal this morning upheld the convictions of two men widely believed to have been wrongfully accused of the 2004 slaying of unionist Chea Vichea, and sent them back to prison to serve out the remainder of their 20-year sentences.

Born Samnang, 29, and Sok Sam Oeun, 32, spent nearly five years in prison before the Supreme Court ordered their provisional release in late 2008 pending a re-investigation of the case.

In January 2004, a week after the Free Trade Union president was gunned down in broad daylight on the streets of Phnom Penh, the pair were arrested and charged with the murder.
After denying any involvement – weeping and begging for help as police carted them in – one then confessed, though later recanted, saying he had been coerced by the police.

Rights groups criticised the verdict from the start, saying the men were set up to take the fall for a political assassination. Years later, the disgraced former municipal police chief Heng Pov confirmed as much, saying in an interview with French newsmagazine L'Express in 2006 that the men had been framed for a murder that was a government-ordered conspiracy.

The reams of exculpatory evidence did little to help either man this morning.

Reading out the verdict, Judge Chuon Sunleng said that despite the inconsistencies between witness and suspect testimony highlighted by the Supreme Court, the reinvestigation corroborated the original findings: the pair had, in fact, committed the murder.

In addition to 20 years imprisonment, both men were ordered to pay 40 million riel to Chea Mony, brother of Chea Vichea and current FTU president.

As the men were led from the court to the prosecutor’s office for processing this morning, Samnang began sobbing uncontrollably, pushing against the police who, at the start of the trial, had quietly entered the court room.

“Why are you doing this?” he screamed. “Why?”

For the past four years – as the  politically sensitive case has bounced from the Appeal Court to the Municipal Court and back, as verdict after verdict has been delayed - the men had attempted to carve out fresh lives in spite of the conviction that hung over their heads.

Ten minutes after the pair had been escorted up the stairs and into the office to sign away another 15 years of their lives, Sam Oeun’s wife came running up.

With one arm, she wiped back tears. With another, she clutched their baby daughter.

“My husband is the breadwinner in the family,” she said.
“Without him, we have no one to depend on.”

KR Tribunal Errs in Release of Secret File

By Lauren Crothers - December 26, 2012

The Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday released on its website, and then quickly removed yesterday, a confidential court document outlining crimes alleged to have been committed during the Pol Pot regime by suspects Meas Muth and Sou Met.


The public dissemination of the confidential 36-page document—in which the Office of the Co-Prosecutors describes why the two former Khmer Rouge officials should be arrested and tried as war criminals—follows the leaking of the information in April 2011.

While the identities of the two suspects at the Khmer Rouge tribunal have been widely known since last year, Monday’s posting of the document online is effectively the first time the court has officially named the suspects in Case 003 publicly.

Yuko Maeda, a public affairs officer at the tribunal, yesterday expressed regret that the document, known as the Second Introductory Submission, had been published and said that its contents should remain classified, despite its wide circulation after being leaked in 2011 and published by the court on Monday.

Ms. Maeda said the appearance of the document online was down to a “technical mistake,” which was only flagged by a member of the tribunal’s Public Affairs office yesterday morning.
“We are going to work on the consequences of what happened today,” she said.
“We’re going to look into the issue. The document is already removed from public domain, and we are looking into any other action that needs to be taken on it.

“At this moment, we don’t know if it was accidental or intentional—we don’t know at this stage,” she added.

The Christian Science Monitor in 2011 quoted extensively from the same document, including the identities of the suspects: Pol Pot’s former Air Force Commander Sou Met and Navy Commander Meas Muth, who are accused of perpetrating crimes against humanity during the 1975 to 1979 regime.

The two former military commanders are accused of participating in purges, forced labor, abuse, torture and killing, and are linked to a dozen crime sites that include the regime’s Kompong Chhnang airfield, the Stung Tauch execution site and the Stung Hav quarry.

On December 14, the Defense Support Section confirmed that Ieng Sary lawyers, Michael Karnavas and Ang Udom, were retained to represent a Case 003 suspect, months after Meas Muth requested that Mr. Udom and a foreign lawyer, the name of whom he couldn’t remember, represent him in court.
Mr. Karnavas declined to comment on the leaked document in an email yesterday.

Anne Heindel, a legal adviser for the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said that even though information in the document is already widely known, the release on the tribunal’s website was “unfortunate.”
“It’s a serious breach of confidentiality, but as far as fair trial rights go, it has been posted before,” Ms. Heindel said of the already wide circulation of the information. “It’s unfortunate.”

Panhavuth Long, a program officer for the Cambodian Justice Initiative, which is part of the George Soros-funded Open Society Justice Initiative, which monitors the court, said there is no great concern for Sou Met’s and Meas Muth’s security because their identities as Khmer Rouge crime suspects have been known for some time.

“I would not think that it’s any bad consequences against the security of the suspects in Case 003, as their names have been known,” Mr. Long said.

Although the document was inadvertently made public, there are still more fundamental doubts as to whether or not the case, known as 003, will ever be heard at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has been very vocal about his opposition to Case 003 ever going to trial, and the tribunal’s former Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet claimed that his national counterpart, You Bunleng, had deliberately stymied his efforts to investigate the case.

© 2012, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

Cambodia: Regional single visa launched

Last Updated on 27 December 2012

By May Kunmakara

 

 

 

 

 Tourists gather to watch the sun rise and take pictures at the Angkor Wat temple, in Siem Reap province. Photograph: Reuters

 

Cambodia and Thailand will launch their single visa today to facilitate a flow in tourists and enable easier travel between the two countries.

Thai newspaper The Nation reported that Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong had agreed on the visa on Tuesday during the nations’ eighth Joint Commission for Bilateral Co-operation.

The Nation reported that tourists from 35 nations would be able to enter both countries with the single visa.  Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation could not be reached for comment.

In a pilot project under the Ayeyarwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy single visa scheme, tourists from other countries can apply for entry at either Cambodian or Thai embassies or consulate offices for visiting the two kingdoms.
Tourism Minister Thong Khon said the project would enhance and facilitate tourism between Cambodia and Thailand.

“We will get mutual benefits: no one loses or wins,” he said.  “It will help to ease travel for tourists. If tourists  are close to a Cambodian or Thai embassy or consulate office, they can apply for it.
“Our embassy or consulate just issues them the visa, but they still have to pay the fee at any checkpoints.

“It is good for us, because in some countries we don’t have enough consulate offices.
“If the pilot project [is successful], we will continue [this] with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.”
Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, welcomed the project.
“It is pretty good, because the tourists can enjoy their visit in the two countries,” Eang said.
“Furthermore, this scheme will help to boost the number of tourists visiting our country.”
For many years, Thailand was the main tourism hub for Cambodia, but  relations between the two countries have been strained since 2008, when violence first broke out between troops stationed along the border.

The situation has improved since Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra came to power last year.
Thong Khon said the number of tourists arriving via Thailand was on the rise.
“Now, the number of tourists from Thailand accounts for 35 per cent, which is the same as from Vietnam.

“I hope that when the project is successful, we will get more,” he said.
Figures from the Ministry of Tourism show tourists from Thailand ranked fifth in number over the first 10 months, reaching 160,028 arrivals. This represents a rise of 90.1 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Earlier this month, Thailand and Cambodia announced that a Thai state-owned transport company would commence services from Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to Bangkok via Poipet on December 29.